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• The Routes Europe award is given by European airlines and is the most important of its kind on the continent

For the second year running, the Canary Islands have come away with the award for top European destination in capturing new airline routes. The Routes Europe 2018 prize-giving ceremony took place yesterday in Bilbao as part of the main event, at this the largest European airline connections forum.

This recognition is given out by the airlines themselves, as it is they who rate the efforts made by the holiday destinations and their airports to improve their connectivity, hence the importance of these kinds of awards. This year Promotur Turismo de Canarias faced stiff competition from Visit Finland, Cyprus, Madrid, Malta and Turkey, along with other candidates.

This award reflects the hard work and strategies developed by Turismo de Canarias. The islands are now better connected to the rest of the world than ever before, with regular flights to some 156 destinations and 90 different airlines operating at our airports. This is all the result of constant research and continual dialogue carried out with the airline companies. The prize takes into account the good public relations maintained with operators, and the quality of global promotion by the destination itself, as a consequence of active efforts to attract new routes and the development of marketing and commercial activities”.

The Canaries as a strategic destination for airlines

The presence of Turismo de Canarias in this international event provides a key opportunity to highlight the great potential of the Canary Islands to international airlines. Over the last few days at the forum over 30 meetings have been held with representatives from top European and American airlines. The islands have been put forward as a strategic holiday destination, with the aim of highlighting the returns they offer on investment if they are to be included in upcoming deals.

As well as being involved in these talks, Turismo de Canarias is also responsible for the running of the Flight Development Fund, thanks to which, since it started up in 2014, it has managed to set up 23 new regular flight routes between the islands and the rest of Europe. This gathering has enabled them to boost their profile at the latest public bidding opened a few weeks ago for the introduction of new routes, in meetings with decision-makers at the different airlines. If the routes offered this time around were all started up, it would translate into an additional 360,000 plane seats over two years. The Fund’s incentive programme has 10 million euros at its disposal to help the Canaries increase their ties with the rest of the world.

Over 2017, the Canary Island brand received no less than 20 different awards and recognitions, while during the first three months of 2018 it has been awarded a Platinum, two Silvers and a Bronze at the The Travel Marketing Awards (TTMA), along with a Silver at the Spanish Advertising Media Association (AMPE).